kal sit
one of me friends described this saying "it's like mental chaos, it's the part of a movie where everything is going wrong." and while i agree, it's also assembled in a way that, in context, everything makes perfect sense
Favorite track: Left Fields.
george
It's a grimy funky album. Sounds like a divey bar with a great band, which, as I understand, is exactly how it was recorded.
Favorite track: Above & Beyond.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
Purchasable with gift card
$9USD or more
Record/Vinyl + Digital Album
160g Classic Black Vinyl LP (pressed at Smashed Plastic in Chicago, with new lacquers cut by Bob Weston at Chicago Mastering) in a heavyweight matte LP Jacket with Spot Gloss photo print and Black Flood inner pocket, includes IARC dome-pattern inner sleeve and OBI Strip.
*Shipping from US, UK, and EU*
** US ORDERS SHIPPING MID NOV ** EU/UK SHIP EARLY JAN 2023 **
*** Multiple Item Orders Will Not Ship Until All Items Are In Stock! ***
Includes unlimited streaming of Highly Rare
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
ships out within 7 days
Purchasable with gift card
$24USDor more
IARC0013 - Limited Edition Cassette
Cassette + Digital Album
Limited edition, stamped white cassette packaged in string-sealed, clear ink screen-printed firecracker red envelope, with white on red screen-printed insert card. Designed & manufactured by Dante Augustus Scarlatti. Single run of 222 copies.
Includes unlimited streaming of Highly Rare
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
Sold Out
IARC0013 - Black & Blood Red Color in Color Vinyl LP
Record/Vinyl + Digital Album
Heavy black & translucent blood red color in color 12" vinyl LP. Packaged in heavyweight matte jacket with IARC obi strip & dome patterned inner sleeve. Limited edition of 111.
Includes unlimited streaming of Highly Rare
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
Sold Out
IARC0013 - Classic Black Vinyl LP
Record/Vinyl + Digital Album
Classic black 12" vinyl LP in heavyweight matte jacket with IARC obi strip and dome patterned inner sleeve.
***All remaining copies will ship from the UK. US customers will be correctly quoted international shipping rates***
Includes unlimited streaming of Highly Rare
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
Highly Rare is a new mixtape produced & arranged by Makaya McCraven.
It’s titled Highly Rare not only for the format of its initial release (a limited-edition run of cassettes packaged in screen-printed, string-sealed, firecracker red envelopes), but foremost for the context of the source material’s capture.
The sounds were recorded to four track cassette tape at a DIY show packed into the confines of Chicago dive Danny's Tavern, a place definitely not known for having live bands, let alone live recordings. It's a place known to vinyl heads both locally and globally as a legendary hub in the crate digger diaspora. It's the place where Jeff Parker learned how to DJ. It's the place where Dante Carfagna held down a rare soul party for over a decade, where he first dropped public needles on 45s that would eventually make compilations he curated for Numero Group and Chocolate Industries. It's the place where DJ Shadow still does sets on the low when he rolls through town.
And on one highly rare night in November 2016 Danny's was the place where we invited an "International Anthem All Stars" type of improvising ensemble (Makaya McCraven, Junius Paul, Nick Mazzarella and Ben Lamar Gay) to play in support of DJ sets by LeFtO, who was in transit from Belgium, hitting local spots under the direction of Chicago scene sage King Hippo. Damn-near 0 degrees and just days after the death sentence of the American presidential election, the sounds the musicians conjured were thick with the bitter cold darkness that hung heavy in the air, punctuated with moments of joyful determination – the kind that can only be accessed when such impending doom triggers passionate adrenalized bursts by creators in survival mode.
Cogent as the cultural context of that November night at Danny's is the compositional prowess that Makaya exercised in post to make Highly Rare the impressive final piece it is. Demonstrating a deeply attuned development of the production approach he forayed in the creation of his 2015 breakout In The Moment, Makaya again took stereo mixes of the full band improvisations into his lab to edit, loop, layer and arrange the tracks, tediously constructing a vivid new slate of sounds that tell an infinitely more colorful tale than the straight takes ever could. The rough and raw edges of low fidelity cassette recording combine with the elegance and wit of Makaya McCraven's production touch to make Highly Rare a highly relevant artifact in the ever-unfolding history of Chicago style creative music.
credits
released November 17, 2017
Makaya McCraven – drums, producer & arranger
Junius Paul – bass guitar
Nick Mazzarella – alto saxophone
Ben Lamar Gay – cornet, diddley bow, voice
with cameos by
Gira Dahnee – background voice
LeFtO - turntables
Recorded to Tascam 424MKIII cassette 4-track by Scott McNiece at Danny's Tavern, Chicago, Illinois, November 20th, 2016. Mixed by Dave Vettraino and Scott McNiece at Dave's house, November 23rd, 2016. Edited by Makaya McCraven December 2016 - March 2017. Restored and Mastered by Timothy Stollenwerk April - June 2017. Cassette Package Design by Dante Augustus Scarlatti. Cover Photo by Jesse Ponkamo. Design & Layout by Craig Hansen. Executive Production by Scott McNiece, with Associate Production by Alejandro Ayala and David Allen.
International Anthem is a Chicago-born recording company that produces and promotes progressive
media.
The IARC mission is to make positive contributions to the changing state of the music industry, and to vitalize the demand for boundary-defying music by presenting unique sounds in appealing packages to untapped audiences....more
